Over the past 30 years, the Eagles have made some good draft picks and some bad draft picks. They have traded up, traded down and one year, under Buddy Ryan, traded all of their late-round picks.

As the Eagles prepare for Chip Kelly’s second draft, and one that could shape the immediate, as well as long-term future of the team, let’s take a look back at some of the best and worst picks the team has made in round by round fashion over those 30 years.
First RoundBest Pick – Donovan McNabb, QB, Syracuse, 1999
Eventually, Eagles fans will get it, and realize whether you liked him, or not, McNabb was the best quarterback in franchise history. No, he never won the Super Bowl. And what Eagles quarterback has? This was also Andy Reid’s first pick as head coach, although Tom Modrak was still the general manager at that time and held some power. It wasn’t as easy of a choice as it turned out to be. There were other quarterbacks under consideration – Akili Smith, Daunte Culpepper, Cade McNown and running backs Ricky Williams and Edgerrin James. Plus, there was the offer from New Orleans to give up all their picks plus a first round pick in 2001. Reid, Modrak and the Eagles did the right thing and took McNabb.

Worst Pick – Kevin Allen, T, 1985
This is example No. 1 as to why you don’t draft strictly for need. Yes, the Eagles needed a tackle in 1985. They knew they wouldn’t get the top one in the draft, Bill Fralic of Pitt, who went No. 2 overall to Atlanta. But picking ninth, they thought they would get either Lomas Brown of Florida or Ken Ruettgers of USC. They thought even moreso when both were still on the board with just three picks to go. Then Detroit took Brown. No problem, the Eagles brass, at the time, liked Ruettgers just as much. And Buffalo, at No. 7 and Tampa Bay at No. 8, were looking for defense. Green Bay wanted a tackle, though, and traded with Buffalo to select Ruettgers. That left the Eagles not knowing what to do and they reached for Allen, out of Indiana, with several good players at other positions still available, including a wide receiver named Jerry Rice. Allen wasn’t very good as a rookie and nearly got Ron Jaworski killed in a game against the Giants. The following year he was cut by Ryan, who called him “The General’’ as in “General Hospital, because he’s always hurt,’’ the coach said. Allen was later convicted of sexual assault and would spent more time in prison than he did in the NFL.

Second RoundBest Pick – Brian Dawkins, S, 1996
It was hard to pass on Randall Cunningham here, who the Eagles selected in that same ’85 draft with Allen, but Dawkins is the choice. Ray Rhodes, whose four drafts with the Eagles netted six Pro Bowl players – seven if you count the trade of picks for Hugh Douglas – and a good running back in Duce Staley, struck gold by taking Dawkins with the 61st pick of the ’96 draft. It’s crazy as it seems now that Dawkins lasted that long. He wasn’t even the Eagles’ first pick in that second round. Seven picks before Rhodes picked “Dawk,’’ he picked tight end Jason Dunn. That ’96 draft could have been the Eagles’ best ever, if in the first round, instead of taking Jermane Mayberry, a good offensive lineman, he selected linebacker Ray Lewis, who went one pick later to Baltimore.

Worst Pick – Bruce Walker, DT, 1994
Rich Kotite selected 41 players in his four drafts as Eagles head coach. When he got one right, it was a surprise. This wasn’t one of those. Walker, a defensive tackle from UCLA, had red flags because of off-the-field trouble he encountered in college. That was the least of his problems. Bottom line was he couldn’t play and was cut before the 1994 season started making him the highest selection in 30 years to not even make the team.

Third RoundBest Pick – Brian Westbrook, RB, 2002
The Eagles, when they took Westbrook out of Division 1-AA Villanova, were hoping to get another Dave Meggett, a good third-down back and returnman out of Division 1-AA Towson, who had several good years for the Giants. What they got instead was another Marshall Faulk. Westbrook is the second-leading rusher in Eagles history with 5,995 yards and the third-leading receiver with 426 receptions.

Worst Pick – Tony Hunt, RB, 2007
Andy Reid was kind of a mix of Rhodes and Kotite when it came to the draft. When he hit, he hit big and when he missed, boy did he miss. Hunt, the big back from Penn State who came in with such high hopes and as a fan favorite because of his Happy Valley status, was one of the bigger misses. He couldn’t cut it, even as a back-up running back, and when asked to move to fullback was even a bigger disaster.

Fourth RoundBest Pick – Byron Evans, LB, 1987
Buddy Ryan’s second draft with the Eagles wasn’t as good as his first. A defensive- oriented draft – surprise—it netted Jerome Brown in the first round, and then Evans in the fourth. It took the middle linebacker from Arizona time to learn Ryan’s 46 defense and unseat veteran Mike Reichenbach, but once he did, he became a force. Evans was just becoming one of the league’s elite linebackers when a knee injury ruined his career. It’s not a coincidence that when he got hurt in 1991, the Eagles were 7-2 and then lost the last seven games of the season without him.

Worst Pick – Dave Barr, QB, 1995
In Rhodes’ first year as head coach he engineered a trade with Green Bay to acquire Mark Brunell. When a contract couldn’t be completed in time with the front office, the deal was nixed and instead the team selected Barr in the draft. Jon Gruden once joked during a Monday Night Football game that in Andy Reid’s first year with the Eagles “they gave him Donovan McNabb. In my first year, they gave me Dave Barr.’’

Sixth RoundBest Pick – Andy Harmon, DT, 1991
This was one of the Kotite surprises. Harmon, a strong defensive tackle from Kent State, was a hard-working, overachieving, underrated player who should have been named to at least one Pro Bowl in his career, also cut short by a knee injury.

Worst Pick – Jeff Sydner, WR, 1992
There were certainly worse players taken in the sixth round than Sydner, the small receiver from Hawaii. Why this pick sticks out is the fact the Eagles kept him on the roster ahead of a free-agent wide receiver named Jimmy Smith, who went onto to become one of the best players in Jacksonville Jaguars history.
Seventh RoundBest Pick – Koy Detmer, QB, 1997
Hey, the Eagles haven’t done so well in the seventh round. Detmer was a solid backup quarterback, which is all you can expect from a seventh round pick. And he was such a good holder they actually brought him out of retirement one year to settle kicker David Akers.

Worst Pick – Raheem Brock, DE, 2002
This would have been the Eagles’ best seventh round pick, but management (re: Joe Banner) fought with him over a couple thousand dollars and he never signed. Instead, he went on to have a pretty good career with the Colts.

Khalil Mack, LB, Buffalo — Not many saw him play in college, but boy did he play well.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S, Alabama — He’s the perfect fit for the new-age defense geared to stop the high-flying offense.
Jadeveon Clowney, DE, So. Carolina – Boom or bust? Probably somewhere in between.
C.J. Mosley, LB, Alabama — If this guy falls into the 20s, a lot of teams made a mistake.
Anthony Barr, LB, UCLA — Still raw, but lots of potential as an outside pass rusher.
Aaron Donald, DT, Pitt —- Undersized, but really quick and tough.
Ryan Shazir, LB, Ohio State — Most underrated player on the defensive side; runs faster than most CBs.
Kyle Fuller, CB, Virginia Tech — He’ll be the best overall CB in the group.
Darquese Dennard, CB, Michigan State — He’s the most ready to play.
Louis Nix, DT, Notre Dame — The perfect NT for a 3-4 defense.